East Meadow students hold walkout for Parkland victims

As expected, hundreds of students from across Nassau County took part in Wednesday’s planned National School Walkout to remember the 17 victims of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School a month ago and to call for stricter gun controls, according to student activists and educators.

The Herald received reports of walkouts taking place at high schools from Valley Stream to Long Beach, Bellmore-Merrick, Glen Head and Oyster Bay, as well as at universities like Hofstra.

The group Women’s March Youth Empower acted as a national organizer of the walkout, which took place not only in the United States, but also at schools in Europe and Australia.

The event was called simply #Enough.

It began at 10 a.m. Students walked out of their schools for precisely 17 minutes — one minute for each of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas victims.

“I am very proud of the students for getting involved and staging and participating in the walkout,” said Susan Bennett, whose daughter is a sophomore at East Meadow High School and participated in the walkout that took place there.

“I also thank the school for not interfering and for keeping the kids safe,” Bennett continued, “but [I] was disappointed that the students were kept out of public view.” Bennett referred to the walkout’s location on the back of the school’s football field.

According to a post on its Twitter feed, Women's March Youth Empower is seeking:

• To enact a resolution declaring gun violence a national health crisis.

• To ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

• To expand background checks on all weapons.

• To pass a federal gun violence restraining order.

• To pass an act "to demilitarize" law enforcement.

School districts are prohibited by law from advocating for political positions, so district officials said they could not condone the walkout. Prior to it, Kenneth Card, the superintendent of the East Meadow School District, said that he did not condone the display, but would not penalize any students who participated.

“We can’t engage in political speech,” Card said, “but we do recognize that students should have a voice and demonstrate their sympathy for the 17 victims of the Parkland shooting. And we will ensure they are safe in doing so.”

Nassau police said ahead of the walkout that security was stepped up at high schools across the county, but would offer no further details.

On its website, Women’s March Youth Empower states that the walkout came about because of “Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.”

“We need action,” the site states. “Students and allies are organizing the national school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship.”

Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa and Education Commissioner Maryellen Elia, in a joint statement on Wednesday, called the walkouts a “peaceful, yet powerful display of unity and civic engagement.”

“This is a national movement; it is real, and it is being driven by our students,” Rosa and Elia said. “As educators, we often talk about ‘teachable moments.’ These young people, united in peaceful protest to demand action buy our Congress on gun violence, are turning tragedy into a teachable moment for our federal lawmakers.”

Erik Hawkins, contributed to this story.